Get Carter Car Park demolished

[Parky]

Funnily enough I was in Helsinki on Saturday. Finnish girls are ace...

Damn right there! I love the elfin cuteness and the knowledge that they are as hard as f*ck! And they speak such amazing English although they could cheer up a bit......

[myglaren]

Apparently there was also a cafe on the roof which was little used ...

 

And not a bit of wonder - it was absolutely dire - as was the car park, horrible place.

 

The only shaft of light that came from that place was that we were in the Tesco on year near Christmas and my second daughter, Sarah, about six at the time, won an At-At from the Star Wars exhibition/promotion that was going on, much to the disgust of her little brother who was a Star Wars fanatic and has never forgiven her.

[myglaren]

 

One of my fave concrete oddities is Lancaster services on the M6... Its superb!

Was there last year - like it

[barrett]

Funnily enough I was in Helsinki on Saturday. Finnish girls are ace...

Damn right there! I love the elfin cuteness and the knowledge that they are as hard as f*ck! And they speak such amazing English although they could cheer up a bit......

From Get Carter to Scandinavian girls, in three easy pages. Welcome to Autoshite!

 

hottest girl I ever pulled was a Swedish model, in Rejkavik, which funnily enough is chock full of hot Icelandic girls!

[HillmanImp]

The problem is with Brutalist architecture is that it was trendy. Things that are different and trendy look good when they are built and don't age well.

 

however after a period of time people come round to them. I think Brutalist is getting to that kind of age now and is starting to look better.

 

All those mirrored glass buildings that were the rage in the 80's like this:

 

 

Look like shit now and are being upgraded or pulled down. Same will happen to the gherkin in London in 20 years time. Personally i think it looks like shit now, but thats nothing compared to what the whole country will think in a few years time.

 

Incidentally, i was looking for a montego ad with it parked outside the same place as the Rover. Think it was a Mayfair. Anyone got a copy? Used to look at that ad in my Daily Mail motor mag wishing my Dad could get a Montego Mayfair.

[Station]

One of the most lunatic buildings near me is the St John's Tower.

 

 

It's now HQ to Radio City, but it was a cafe. I can't remember if it revolved or not, but I remember going up there as a kid with my mum. Think they closed it as you'd be buggered if there was a fire.

I take photos of loads of old buildings, I aspired to become an architect throughout my childhood, but became a graphic designer instead. I'd probably be designing toilet cubicles now.

[Tayne]

.

[Station]

Think you can go up on guided tours. There's (I think) a single elevator and possible a staircase.

I remember a DJ (Pete Price) was on when an earthquake occurred and he absolutely sh*t himself. He was screaming 'I'm not into this! I'm not into this!' (in thick scouse accent).

 

There's still a big mirrored building which I think used to house The Daily Post newspaper. It looks quite nice.

 

Link

 

This is a new Pier Head Ferry building on the waterfront. It looks like a CCTV camera from the other side of the Mersey:

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... lding.html[/url]

[Drive-By]

 

 

One of my fave concrete oddities is Lancaster services on the M6... Its superb!

Was there last year - like it

My girlfriend and I stopped there on our way to pick up my laurel 3 years ago Good times.

 

On a note i'm truely gutted I won't ever drive into Gateshead and pass the car park anymore, it's always been a stunning piece of art on the skyline. With its design and movie iconicism I am appalled that no heritage societyhas saved the building

[Lankytim]

WOW! wheres that radio city tower??

[Station]

Right in the middle of Liverpool city centre!

 

 

[eddyramrod]

Station, thank you for the new Pier Head building! I scarpered before it was finished, all I remember is scaffolding and fences.

 

Ahhhh, Lancaster (Forton) Services. We used to ride up there when I was little, for a Sunday jaunt in the Zephyr. That was a brand new car, so we're looking at about 1966. Years later my SD1 broke down there on the way to see a 50s American auto I wanted to buy, this was 1998. I never did get that De Soto, and the Rover didn't last either. I left a recon radiator with my friend, so if you need a rad for a 6-pot SD1 auto, I'm prepared to take cheques...

[AnthonyG]

A lot of these buildings were designed for a finite lifetime - they were not designed to last more or less for ever, like Victorian town halls were.

 

Many also used innovative building technologies/methods, some of which have not stood the test of time very well. Also the energy efficiency is frequently pretty awful, as they were fitted out with coal or oil hungry heating systems, and worrying about saving heat/light was just not an issue.

 

At least the most striking stuff, like the Park Hill flats in Sheffield is being listed and saved.

 

Therefore most of these buildings are coming to the end of their designed in-service lives. Hillman Imp's right about 1980s stuff as well, a lot of that is starting to look very tatty, and will soon be pulled down as well.

[AnthonyG]

I go to Berlin quite a lot, I am there again week after next. When I first went the Palast was closed but still had its exterior, over the years I have seen it dissappear bit by bit. Very sad. Apparently they put it to public vote as to whether it should be saved - 65% voted to save it but they demolished it anyway. Thats democracy folks!

A great bit of trivia from Wikipedia, the steel recovered from the demolished Palast was used in the construction of the Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world (at the moment anyway).

 

So a capitalist Islamic icon has got good old atheist commie steel holding it up!

[HillmanImp]

Trellick Tower, London

 

My ex girlfriend used to live in Balfron Tower.

 

 

She used to live on the 24th floor IIRC, and used to hang her clothes out of the window to dry. I remember one time she accidentally dropped a pair trousers when she was bringing them in and they floated away over London. Dont know how far they actually got (we watched them for about 10 minutes floating away until they went out of sight) but i have a nice image in my head of a pair of girls trousers suddenly landing on someone in the street or in a park out of the blue.

 

I know what you are thinkning, was she a big girl so that her trousers acted like parachutes? No, she was quite petite.

[hammy]

A lot of these buildings were designed for a finite lifetime - they were not designed to last more or less for ever, like Victorian town halls were.

 

Many also used innovative building technologies/methods, some of which have not stood the test of time very well. Also the energy efficiency is frequently pretty awful, as they were fitted out with coal or oil hungry heating systems, and worrying about saving heat/light was just not an issue.

 

At least the most striking stuff, like the Park Hill flats in Sheffield is being listed and saved.

 

Therefore most of these buildings are coming to the end of their designed in-service lives. Hillman Imp's right about 1980s stuff as well, a lot of that is starting to look very tatty, and will soon be pulled down as well.

The problem with a lot of the work is that corrupt deals took place between developers and planners, and corners were cut in the building processes resulting in poorly built and unsafe housing springing up. Some of those that have best survived like the Trellick were the rare buildings that were well constructed and have survived better than others.

 

One piece of brutalism facing an uncertain future is Birmingham Central library. Unfortunately we had a culture secretary who hated brutalism and failed to list several key structures as a result of her own dislikes.

[Torsten2001]

One of my faves, the DDRs Palast der Republik:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palast_der_republik

 

What's with the car in the bottom right corner, front of a ZAZ, rear of a Moskvich, different wheels too!

[garethj]

The problem is with Brutalist architecture is that it was trendy. Things that are different and trendy look good when they are built and don't age well.

 

however after a period of time people come round to them. I think Brutalist is getting to that kind of age now and is starting to look better.

You're right, I read somewhere that the most risky time for a building is when it's between 50 and 100 years old. Before 50 it's still new enough and after 100 it's come back into style again.

 

When I read books from the 1940s or 50s, there's usually a moan about Victorian archetecture but now it's ultra desirable (so we're told)

 

That looks like it should have Michael Keaton driving past in the Batmobile

[RedSparrow]

What's with the car in the bottom right corner, front of a ZAZ, rear of a Moskvich, different wheels too!

Well spotted!

 

 

Appears to have the rear of a Wartburg I recon though!

[Torsten2001]

Good work!

 

The front of a rear engined car with the rear of a front engined car...love to see a road test!

[RedSparrow]

I have another photo of the Palast where people appear to have been 'shopped' onto it in odd places, possibly to make to look busier.

Makes me think the powers that be in the DDR had edited the pictures for some reason. Perhaps there was a Western car parked there and this was their way of covering it!

[Lord Sterling]

It has been 'shopped'. Check the Blue and White cars parked together behind wierd car, they also appear on the other side of the car and appear to have beencopied and pasted into place. Looking up close they look out of place and obviously been 'shopped'.

 

I think its been done to make it appear as if there are more people there, or maybe to cover something up?

 

One piece of brutalism facing an uncertain future is Birmingham Central library. Unfortunately we had a culture secretary who hated brutalism and failed to list several key structures as a result of her own dislikes.

Birmingham Central Library is condemmed anyway. There has been alot of propaganda on the news about it complaining that it loks old and is falling apart. It has been left to get into this state because the culture secretary doesnt lik it and want it replaced with a something boring and soulless.

 

The new design is is a glas building with some sort of metal wires draped all over it. The public dont like it, but the the power-that-be do. So it will get built.

 

Until a few months ago, I'd never been inside the Birmingham Central Library. It is as 'stylish' inside as it is outside.

 

Also, another piece of brutalism facing demolision is 103, Colmore Row aka: The NatWest building which is a stones throw from the Central Library.

 

Sorry about the size:

 

 

How I would love to go to work in an office in a building like this, complete with my Rover Sterling, Pinstripe suit and attache case.

[AnthonyG]

The problem with Birmingham Central Library is that it is a very poor use of space, the ceilings are too low and there are too many floorsserved by narrow escalators. The introduction of a small shopping mall and a bar, inside what was intended to be an open space, also adds to the problems.

 

Whilst the outside is stylish, the inside is just a mess IMO. It is also in poor repair, both inside and out.

 

The culture secretary just rubber stamped a decision that the council (Tory & Lib Dem, whilst she was Labour) desperately wanted and needed.

[AXrescuer]

The worst thing about the car park going is that they are replacing it with - a tesco. Probably the most uninteresting thing possible. If they were hell bent on knocking it down, it should at least have been replaced with something else interesting.

 

It takes away just about the only thing that made gateshead even remotely worth a visit.

Fucking Tesco. The tallest landmark in my town (Roche Product's Chimney) was knocked down last year to make way for a Tesco. Fuckers still haven't even got planning permission yet but the whole area has been flattened!

[AXrescuer]

Trellick Tower, London

 

One of my cousins lived there in the late 80s. I used to have recurring nightmares about falling from it.

[scaryoldcortina]

Good work!

 

The front of a rear engined car with the rear of a front engined car...love to see a road test!

This reminded me of the Skrova as "driven" by George Cole- (name that television series)

Comrade Dad?